Right: Blouin Orzes architectes | Katittavik Multidisciplinary Hall, Northern Village of Kuujjuaraapik, Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. Credit: Courtesy Blouin Orzes architectes. Left: Right: Peterson Rich Office | Telfair Studio, Lyme, CT, 2013. Credit: Kevin Kunstadt.
The Emerging Voices lectures scheduled for March 12, 19, and 26 were canceled due to COVID-19. In lieu of live lectures, firms created short-form videos presented under the title Emerging Voices Reports. View the complete series along with interviews and articles about the winners on the 2020 Emerging Voices competition page.
The Architectural League’s annual Emerging Voices program spotlights North American architects, landscape architects, and urban designers who have significant bodies of realized work and the potential to influence their field.
Based in Montreal, Marc Blouin has been building projects in Nunavik, north of the 55th parallel, since 2000. Catherine Orzes joined the firm in 2012 and became a partner in 2018, forming Blouin Orzes architectes. Beginning with a hotel project in Inukjuak, the firm has designed and built a number of civic projects for the Inuit communities in the region, and their work is acutely attentive towards native tradition and environmental issues, deftly adapting to the needs and limitations of the harsh northern climate. Their process, in turn, is rooted in meaningful communication and collaboration with their audiences.
Founded in 2011 by Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich, Peterson Rich Office focuses on residential and cultural buildings as well as urban design and research-based projects. According to the principals, the practice’s design process favors “precision over abstraction, users and context over the diagram.” The result is an architecture that “engages place, is resistant to trend and style, and attempts to be communicable and accessible.”
Introduction by Mimi Hoang, Co-founding partner, nARCHITECTS.
Support
Emerging Voices is generously supported by Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown. The Emerging Voices program is also supported by the Next Generation Fund of The Architectural League. Architectural League programs are additionally supported, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
